It Begins
by blackestfaery
Summary: ONESHOT. Follows the kiss scene in Hot Gimmick, volume 1. Here’s my take on what’s going on in Ryoki and Hatsumi’s head at the time.


Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. All characters, terms, and affiliates of Hot Gimmick are not mine, but belong to their respective owner, Aihara Miki, and its licensor, VIZ.

Archive: Sure… just email me so I know where it is.

Spoilers: Follows the kiss scene in _Hot Gimmick_, volume 1. Manga with just enough dialogue to carry the plot is hard enough to draw, so most scenes are left to the reader's interpretation – especially when you're not provided with the protagonists' thoughts. Here's my take on what's going on in Ryouki and Hatsumi's head at the time )

Notes: I would just like to apologize about the formatting of this fic. Everything looked fine on Word, and then when I upload it here, it looks like crap. QuickEdit sucks big time, my edits on it do _not _show up, and this bugs me enough to possibly not use to host anything anymore.

A little gift dedicated to all the lovely fans that've fallen head over heels in love with the oft times frustrating but forever sizzling attraction between Ryouki and Hatsumi.

I give you fair warning that there is a lot of p.o.v. changing, but you should manage… after the 3rd time around.

Enjoy sweets…

* * *

It Begins 

written by: the blackestfaery

* * *

There's always something about that first kiss. 

"Take off my glasses."

That first vital connection, a touching of not just flesh and muscle, but of so much more.

A touching of minds. Of breath. Of hearts…

"Go on."

Of souls.

* * *

The angry blush on her cheeks was a dead giveaway. 

He could see she hated the very thought of touching him, the closeness she had to endure to remove his glasses… _No_, he corrected, stung. _She hates me_.

His glasses removed, he stared opaquely at her, willing himself to be emotionless in the face of her tangible hate. He almost called it off – _almost _– but his pride reared, screamed for revenge. No matter! It _is _a punishment, after all. A kiss with the enemy, the hated –

_Whoosh_

Ryouki Tachibana forgot the hate, the bustling subway around him, even the thought of where she had stashed his glasses.

All he knew were the small, twin hands clamped on his scarf, pulling him down to her. His eyes widened as Hatsumi made soft, devastating contact…

And then the heat.

Chaste and inexperienced though it was, Ryouki realized one potentially dangerous thing.

Yuka-san's kiss never had this fire.

* * *

Hatsumi Narita hated him. She really, _really_ hated him, and not just for this humiliating experience. Oh no. She hated him for all that he represented: the life she would never have, the prestige, the smarts – even the not inconsiderable good looks he possessed made her burn… and… ache… at the same time… 

_He chose well_, she thought. A kiss with the enemy. No matter. It _is _a punishment after all.

She reached her hands up to grasp the delicate metal of his glasses and was surprised to find herself on the tips of her toes. Running her eyes up the wide expanse of his chest and past the strong column of his neck, Hatsumi met the shadowed eyes staring down at her.

_He's so much bigger than me..._

The awe died from the thought, only to be replaced with a surge of spine-stiffening rage. And yet another reason to hate Ryouki Tachibana. A big guy like him shouldn't be forcing a girl of her size to do such an intimate thing as kissing.

_I wanna_ kill _him_.

And yet… his eyes gave her pause. So flat, so dull… so…

_Enough!_

Grasping the dangling ends of his scarf, Hatsumi pulled with all her strength. She tilted her head up, eyes squeezed shut. She thought of pleasant things as she felt him bend towards her – of flowers, of sunshine, of how she should be sharing her first kiss with Azusa, of how –

Warm breath ghosted over her lips before the heat became a solid contact against her mouth.

Time stopped. The outside world slowed to a crawl and all else turned black and white. Her hands clutched tighter on the scratchy wool scarf, and the muted, distant rumblings she heard were dimly recognized as commuters rushing by, the ding of approaching trains, and the high and low cadence of voices in conversation.

In the recesses of her mind, she knew they were in public. People could see them – indeed, she could even make out a few reproachful whispers of passersby.

"No shame, these kids these days…"

"Something wrong with the parents, I expect…"

And yet…

The warm, persistent pressure urged her to focus, and to her surprise, Hatsumi tasted green tea… and mint. _He's been drinking green tea_, she thought. _He_ –

He.

Ryouki.

_Ryouki Tachibana._

Hatsumi finally remembered who she'd been kissing and jerked away – quite belatedly, she thought. In truth, the kiss would have only been a figment of her imagination if not for the lingering heat swelling her lips and the subtle trace of Ryouki's cologne swirling her senses.

* * *

Ryouki was the first to speak. 

"_Ow!_ You smushed my nose…" Reaching his hand up to rub his unharmed appendage, Ryouki struggled to remain calm and hoped his grammatical slip went unnoticed. He was still frantically recovering the ground beneath his feet.

Luckily for him, Hatsumi was too busy rubbing her lips against the rough cloth of her jacket. _Say something! Say _something!

"Yeah, but – our lips _did_ touch…" With that last parting comment not as scathing as she would have liked, Hatsumi whirled away.

She ran where her feet took her, unmindful of the people she shoved aside or the toes she stepped on. She didn't even care about the stares she received. She just wanted to get away from him.

The back of her hand remained on her still tingling lips – to rub out the feeling or contain it, she didn't want know.

And so she ran. Ran until she no longer felt his stare.

* * *

Watching her dark head bob through the crowd and finally disappear, Ryouki let out a breath. 

_Hmph._ "Serves her right." Her face flashed briefly across his field of vision – red face, bright eyes, hand pressed roughly to her mouth…

He knew guilt when he felt it, so he turned his head away. He tried to shrug the moment off and reached for his bag, forgotten on the floor.

"Such a big fuss over one little kiss."

_Tump_

"Jeez…" _dropped my bag, how stupid _and_ clumsy…_

_Tump Tump_

He gathered the straps of the bag in his hand.

Ignored, his heart gave an unusually loud protest.

_THUMP!_

Ryouki paused, a flush – _not a blush, _damn it_, cause guys _do not_ blush_, he thought crazily – turning him pink in the face.

"…Eh?"

For the record, his heart gave another hard lurch to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

_THUMP!_

"Huh?"

Ryouki touched his fingers to his mouth and felt his pulse leap in response.

"What…" _thump thump,_ "the hell…?"

With the a sinking feeling, Ryouki went to class.

* * *

Regardless of what everybody else thought, Hatsumi wasn't a complete mess up. Her feet knew the way home, so while her feet did the walking, her mind did the wandering. 

_Mlurf._ She still couldn't believe she'd _kissed_ Ryouki Tachibana.

Feelings aside, it was still a kiss. Her first ever kiss and it was stolen – well, technically, _she _was the one who gave it, but under duress, of course – by a tall, good-looking, heavenly-smelling…

_Urgh!_ Hatsumi froze, mimicking a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.

_Jerk! Yes, jerk! _That was how she would complete that wayward thought. For emphasis, she briskly rubbed her sleeve against her suddenly hot face. The scratch of the material felt good and served to ground her back into reality.

To her surprise, she found herself looking up at the looming presence of the company housing complex.

Her home… and his, too.

_Jerk_.

Realizing there was no escaping another run-in with him, Hatsumi felt her shoulders droop.

_If I didn't live here… This would never have happened. _

End

_

* * *

_Notes: Not much of a page scroller, but – just goes to show why not the one making money off this series ) Still… drop me a line if it moves ya, cause I was thinking of maybe doing something like this for one RyoukixHatsumi scene of each volume of Who knows… I just hope that some of you enjoyed it. 


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